Willow Creek Spills Over Banks

While the Mouse River remains iced-over right now one of its tributaries is running out of its banks today Willow Creek - which drains the andamp lt a href andamp quot http www kxnet com t turtle-mountainandamp quot class andamp quot kxInlineLinkandamp quot andamp gt Turtle Mountainandamp lt aandamp gt s and snakes through southwestern andamp lt a href andamp quot http www kxnet com t bottineau-ndandamp quot class andamp quot kxInlineLinkandamp quot andamp gt Bottineauandamp lt aandamp gt and northeastern McHenry Counties - is spilling onto farm and pastureland The flooding began suddenly on Sunday - and the creek continued its rise through the day today Water is running over rural roads west of Willow City - in a place where just 24 hours earlier - the Willow Creek was frozen in its banks The sudden rise in the creek began Sunday afternoon Brad Klebe Rancher andamp quot From 1 00 to 4 30 it completely changed andamp quot Brad Klebe lives alongside Willow Creek about seven miles west of Willow City He watched as his farm yard was inundated - a flood that spooked his horses that were cornered just outside the water Brad Klebe Rancher andamp quot They re having a tough day they didn t sleep much last night for worry andamp quot The high water gave the farm s cats some new places to play - and stranded a field mouse on ice chunks floating down the creek It also caused a few ranchers to have to move their herds away from the low teritorry About ten miles west of Willow City Brad Fecho moved his 260-plus cattle from pastures along the creek to higher ground Brad Fecho Rancher andamp quot Yesterday we dozed all the snow out of here so we could move our cattle up from the feedlot down there where it s going to flood probably tonight or tomorrow andamp quot The ranchers guess they re seeing runoff from heavy rains that hit the region more than a week ago - water that is coming from the Turtle Mountains - overwhelming the creek channel and quickly melting the snow that had filled it up over the long winter andamp lt a href andamp quot http www kxnet com t jim-olsonandamp quot class andamp quot kxInlineLinkandamp quot andamp gt Jim Olsonandamp lt aandamp gt KX News andamp quot Folks who live around here are used to seeing the Willow Creek rise quickly in the spring but what worries them this year is all of this snow that needs to be melted and joined up with the creek Plus the creek drains the Turtle Mountain region to the north and there s still plenty of snow and water to come from there as well andamp quot Brad Klebe Rancher andamp quot What could get us into trouble is if this flood doesn t start to go down or get a majority of it out of here before the snow starts melting we have quite a snowpack to melt off That could cause us problems if we jump from 30 degrees to 50 degrees in a short period of time andamp quot If that happens Klebe worries that Willow Creek could reach 1969-type record levels and cause a lot more problems Near Willow City Jim Olson KX News The level of Willow Creek is measured very close to the spot we just showed you It s current reading is at 14 51 - up from 7 45 at seven last night Willow Creek empties into the Mouse River near Upham - as the Mouse makes its trip north back into andamp lt a href andamp quot http www kxnet com t canadaandamp quot class andamp quot kxInlineLinkandamp quot andamp gt Canadaandamp lt aandamp gt